Friday, May 05, 2006

Colbert in brief

Interesting article at WSWS today on the Stephen Colbert speech at the White House Press Correspondents' Dinner.


Also interesting is that Youtube, suddenly concerned about "copyright infringement" has taken the Colbert portion of the CSPAN coverage of the diner down. They have left Colbert Report clips and CSPAN clips (including the unfunny "comedy" routine of Bush himself and a Faux-Bush) up. The dinner took place on April 29. Today is May 5. That's some fast deletion. It's also "refusing to load" from other sources.

The Comedian Dissapears?

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Old Fish, New Fish

There is an article at WSWS about the discovery of the Tiktaalik fossils. I am saddened, though not surprised, given the current anti-scientific bent in the States, that this has not recieved more coverage.

What often baffles me is the Creationists' self-denial of the Wonder involved in scientific discovery. For me, and many like me, I am hoping, the Wonder that is based on the real is so much better than the Wonder which comes with the denial of further possible discovery. Knowing a little, and that there is so much more to be known, and which is knowable, is very exciting.

Obviously there are many differences in Scientific Knowledge and Religious Knowledge. It is often the case that religious study goes from pre-drawn conclusions and gathers in only the evidence which would support the views held, while rejecting anything which runs contrary as being the Devil's Work, or Heresy (it was not until the 1990's that the Catholic Church pardoned Galileo).

(This is from quite some time ago. While I am working on Why Darwin Matters, I thought it might be slightly relevent.)